Former Lafayette mayor Chris Berry releases first novel

By Quentin Young For Hometown Weekly

Posted:
12/14/2012 09:00:00 PM MST

The cover of "Aves -- The Age of Engagement." (Chris Berry, Courtesy photo)
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Chris Berry faced plenty of political challenges when he was mayor of Lafayette, but nothing like those that confront Principalis, leader of the bird council and the protagonist in Berry's first novel. For one, Berry made it out alive.The novel, written under the name C. J. Berry and meant for young independent readers, is called "Aves -- The Age of Engagement." Berry started work on it shortly after his 2003 to 2007 term as mayor, and he recently self-published it. (Daily Camera writer Aimee Heckel edited the book.) He expects also to release it as an e-book.The story, which features anthropomorphized bird characters, opens with trouble. Tyto Alba, a scheming barn owl who was banished from the bird council (which operates kind of like an avian city council, but with more high-flown rhetoric), is planning to take power through a coup. Principalis, a regal ivory-billed woodpecker, is preparing to pass to a successor the Staff of Aves, which each bird ruler carries. As Berry describes the conflict that unfolds, he touches on issues of leadership and community as well as environmental threats to birds.

Berry is a lifelong bird-watcher, and his love for birds comes through the anatomical and behavioral details that enrich the narrative. Berry has a cinematic way of conjuring his bird world. The natural environment his characters inhabit comes to life in the mind's eye. He also stays on task. He mostly refrains from digression and keeps the plot flying forward. By the last pages the reader realizes there are some significant loose ends, but Berry apparently left it that way on purpose. He says "Aves" is the first of a series.

The book is greatly enhanced by the delicate and sensitive illustrations by Fort Collins artist Laura G. Young. If you're not sure what an ivory-billed woodpecker looks like, Young's portrait of Principalis on the cover of "Aves" will give you a good idea.

Berry dedicated the book to one "Mrs. Sanborn," his fifth-grade teacher when he was growing up in Maine. Sanborn instilled in him a love of reading and of the outdoors, he said.

Berry plans to offer a book signing event from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 22, at Cannon Mine Coffee, 210 S. Public Road, Lafayette.